The MSF Basic Bike Bonding RiderCourse: A Review

[Yarhj]

Early this year I finally got my act together to the point where I will finally be able to ride my bike regularly (long story). The only problem was that while my bike was in perfect working order (finally), my brain was not. I originally took the MSF Basic Rider Course back in 2009, didn’t get a bike until 2011, and only now do I have any time to ride it, so calling my skills rusty is a bit of an understatement. In all that time I’ve compulsively read and watched everything I could get my hands on related to motorcycling skills and safety (including the Hurt report, the MAIDS study, Proficient Motorcycling, and More Proficient Motorcycling), and while there’s always more to learn, I’d consider my armchair knowledge of motorcycling reasonably adequate.

Clearly a refresher course was in order, but taking the BRC again seemed like it might be overkill – I’d already gone over all the textbook material covered in the course several times -- before I originally took the BRC, again when I took the BRC, back in 2011 when I bought my bike, and every year thereafter. What I really needed was seat time, so when I found out there was a course which offered just as much seat time as the BRC but skipped the classroom portion, I was interested. When I found out it cost half as much, only took one day, and let me use one of the course bikes rather than bringing my own, I was downright intrigued.

So that’s how I found myself driving up to the Honda training center in Alpharetta, GA on a frozen February morning. You can either bring your own bike to the course or use one of theirs, and since their training bikes are brand new Honda CBR 250s (I think you can also ask to ride a 250 CRF), the choice was easy. One of the bikes had only 1 mile on it when they rolled it out!

For reference, here’s the description of the Basic Bike Bonding RiderCourse (hereinafter referred to as the B3RC), taken from the website:

The MSF Basic Bike Bonding RiderCourse (BBBRC) is designed to provide a low risk, effective, and enjoyable training event for participants just starting their riding careers. Participants that have completed the MSF Basic RiderCourse or equivalent, or have sufficient riding skills and experiences to operate a motorcycle with basic proficiency. Riders must have a motorcycle endorsement. The BBBRC is a logical next step to the Basic RiderCourse (BRC) curriculum. Bike Bonding refers to the connection and interaction of the rider and motorcycle. The overall aim of the BBBRC is to help riders develop smooth and precise control as they manipulate primary motorcycle controls and develop their riding procedures and techniques. Good bike bonding helps riders automate their physical skills so they can devote more attention to road and traffic conditions (searching and evaluating). The general objective is for participants to develop and practice basic skills beyond those acquired in the BRC. By the end of the course, participants should be able to handle a motorcycle well enough for normal street situations that require motorcycle control skills. There is no classroom portion to this course, Riding Exercises of the Bike Bonding Awareness, Basic Control Skills, Speed Control & Turns from a Stop, Tight Turns, Accelerating, Braking & Turning, Engine Braking, Curves & Swerves, Low-Speed Decreasing Radius Curves, Control in Tighter Spaces, Lollipops, and Sharing the Road. No passengers are permitted in the BBBRC.

The BBBRC (seriously, who names these things?) is supposed to pick up where the BRC leaves off, but what the description doesn’t tell you is that the primary focus is low-speed control. There are some cornering exercises, but everything is focused on improving your skills and confidence at parking lot speeds (~10mph).

We started out with a quick TCLOCS inspection to make sure all the bikes were in good working order, and then headed out onto the range for the actual exercises. Just as in the BRC, there are two instructors on hand to watch you and give you feedback. The initial exercises are pretty simple, both to let you get up to speed and to let the instructors figure out everyone’s skill level, but it definitely moves a lot faster than the BRC. In the BRC you spend some time figuring out where everything is on the bike, then you spend some time power-walking back and forth, then you ride in a straight line, and so on. In the B3RC you do some slow-speed straight line riding to get used to dragging the clutch a bit, and then you’re off to the races (figuratively speaking).

The exercises primarily focus on low-speed control – there are a few variants of low-speed weaves and low-speed circles – but there are also some simple cornering exercises, including some practice with decreasing radius turns (albeit the everyone was toddling along at 5mph for the tightest bit of those turns). On the whole the exercises are straightforward and understandable, and (as in the BRC) one of the instructors demoes each exercise on their own bike, which is very helpful if, like me, you can’t understand verbal directions. The only exercise I really had trouble with from a comprehension standpoint was the lollipop: a slow-weave terminated with a small-radius circle. I simply could not figure out quite how they wanted me to enter the circle, which, combined with my already sub-par low-speed handling skills, led to all sorts of entertainment for the other riders in my class.

There were a few things I found lacking in the B3RC. Firstly, aside from straight-line quick stops, there wasn’t really any training covering evasion maneuvers. There was one swerving exercise, but there was so much room allowed for the swerve that you could just turn sedately rather than actually swerving, and there was no training for stopping suddenly in a turn. Since the focus of the course is on low-speed handling there’s not much chance to work on proper cornering and countersteering technique – you spend most of your time counterweighting the bike and dragging the rear brake for stability at 5-10mph. This is definitely useful stuff, but it doesn’t fully span the set of skills that people should know.

Secondly, the presentation of the course is a bit choppy – beyond reading the MSF description of each exercise to the students (“…You will weave through the cones at approximately 10mph in first or second gear…”) there wasn’t really any additional instruction about how to tackle each exercise. When I took the BRC the instructors would spend a few additional minutes describing how to actually do the stuff listed on the card (e.g. “Now, for the figure 8 box, you’ll want to counterweight the bike and modulate the rear brake for stability, while also...”), but in the B3RC you just get on the bikes and give it a go, and get feedback from the instructors when you screw up. On the one hand, that makes things move a bit faster, and honestly most of the exercises don’t need any special instruction (ride to that cone, turn around it, and ride to the next one!), but it would have been nice to get a bit more coaching on some of the more challenging exercises.

All that said, I did still get a lot out of this course. The next day, puttering around in an empty parking lot, I noticed that I had much more confidence at slow speeds and could pull off much tighter U-turns and figure eights. That confidence boost at slow speeds has also translated to higher confidence on the road in general, but I’m not sure the B3RC was really the right tool for the job.

Ultimately, I think someone in my situation, who hasn’t really ridden for years, would be better served by retaking the regular BRC. The lack of cornering and evasion practice is a bit too big an omission for truly inexperienced riders. This course could be a decent option as a refresher for someone who has ridden for years, but just needs to shake the cobwebs out at the end of winter. The Advanced RiderCourse may still be a better option for that, though, as it specifically focuses on braking, cornering, and swerving, rather than parking lot maneuvers (and costs the same as the B3RC!).

So, now it comes to it. Would I recommend the B3RC? Well, maybe. If you need to work specifically on low-speed handling and would rather use someone else’s motorcycle for the course (for instance, because it will probably be 30 degrees Fahrenheit with ice on the road the morning of your class), then the B3RC will be right up your alley. I would say most people would be better served by retaking the BRC or taking the ARC (or better), but the B3RC is still a decent option. (Especially if all the slots in the upcoming BRC and ARC classes are filled.)

[csmith12]

[Alex]

[dcj13]

Very good! Sounds like it's time to hit the street.

[Sirref]

Awesome, you're approaching it the wrong way

I wish more people took learning the basic skills seriously, I've got a friend who's getting a bike in may and I can't convince him that the msf course is worth the $300 it costs here